The present invention relates to a hoist ring of the type used to lift a variety of heavy loads or objects, such as die sets and molds; however, the invention has much broader applications and may be used for a variety of applications where it is necessary to secure a ring to a structure, either to lift the structure or to hold down a structure such as containers, air crafts, air vehicles, boats, etc. Through the years, a large number of hoist devices has been developed which allow for a ring to be connected to the hook of a hoist wherein the ring pivots and swivels for the purpose of automatically adjusting the disposition of the ring with respect to the force being applied to the hoist during the lifting procedure. Such devices are found in patents incorporated by reference herein. Most of these devices are center-pull hoist rings where a post assembly extends through and allows 360.degree. rotation of a support member. The rotating support member carries the load lifting ring, which is normally in the form of a U-shaped clevis. The clevis pivots through the center axis of the rotating support member and has a pivot arc of about 180.degree.. Although the center-pull hoist ring is common in the patented art, the side-pull hoist ring is widely used. Like the center-pull style, the side-pull hoist ring includes a rotating support member mounted onto the load by a post assembly. In a side-pull hoist ring, the support member is generally U-shaped to define an outer bight portion in which a circular load ring is pivotally mounted. The circular load ring is offset from the axis of the center post assembly. Consequently, there are substantial forces created by the use of a side-pull hoist ring. Such hoist rings have heretofore included a cast metal clevis for supporting the load ring. The use of a casting for the clevis has substantial disadvantages. Since each clevis must have structural integrity they are individually inspected by a variety of techniques, such as magnetic particle inspection. In the field, a rejection rate as high as 25% is not uncommon. Consequently, inventory and ordering practices are difficult to control. If an order of clevises has a high rejection rate, there are insufficient useable clevises for scheduled production runs. To compensate for this eventuality, excess clevises are ordered. If they have a low rejection rate, a high inventory exists, which is quite expensive and wasteful. Consequently, the use of a cast clevis for a side-pull hoist ring is not advantageous. In addition, side-pull hoist rings have included a bushing on the post assembly with a limited diameter that causes an increased force on the clevis when the load ring is pulled at 90.degree. from the support surface and/or pulled around the corner of a die set or mold. Such small bushings used in side-pull hoist rings drastically reduce the bearing area with the load and increases forces when the side-pull hoist ring is operated in various positions.
The swivel action of a side-pull hoist ring is accomplished by a post assembly including a bolt and bushing, which design requires an external snap ring to hold the bushing in place and an internal snap ring to hold the bolt with respect to the bushing. In a like manner, most center-pull hoist rings include a snap ring between the bushing and bolt at the bottom of the bushing, similar to the structure shown in Andrews U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,686. Such constructions are extremely expensive and can be disassembled in the field, which allows use of replacement bolts not particularly constructed for use in a hoist ring. The use of externally exposed snap rings is common practice; however, such procedure presents certain disadvantages in the field.